Balance
by JadedAthena
Summary: A story about how two idiot dragonslayers change Lucy's life forever when they play catch with her keys beside a river. Good job Natsu and Gajeel :/
1. Chapter 1

**IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!  
You choose the pairing for this story. Vote on the poll which is on my page right now! Only open until CHAPTER TEN is posted.  
**

Hey Everyone. This is a new story idea I recently thought of. I've hardly left my laptop for almost three days now! Anyway, please comment, critique, follow and favourite!

Enjoy!

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"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?"

The scream echoed around the guild, causing everyone inside to stop, not daring to move. The owner of the loud yell, Lucy stepped towards Natsu, the glare obvious on her face. "Do you even understand what just happened?" she asked, lowering her voice but keeping the scary tone.

Natsu, seeing Lucy had changes into her scary mode started to back away, trying to not make eye contact with the annoyed girl. "Where are they Natsu?" she screamed. Natsu, turning to run, found the door closing in front of his face as Lucy dodged around him. He stood before her, trembling.

At this point, Erza started walking towards them, deciding to break up the fight before Natsu got angry and hurt Lucy. But Lucy sensed her approaching and sent her a glare, causing Erza to squeal and run back to her seat. Turning back to Natsu, she sent him her most seething glare and punched him in the face.

With either incredible luck or skill, the force behind the punch picked Natsu off his feet, crashing back and taking out Gajeel. The two strong dragonslayers lay on the floor, their heads spinning. Seeing she wouldn't get an answer out of Natsu now, Lucy left the guild, swearing and cursing the three of the boys to hell.

The whole guild gravitated towards the two men, who were still slumped in a heap. Mira, changing into Satan Soul glared at them. "What did you three do?"

Gajeel, who seemed to have recovered the fastest from the blow stood up, shaking his head. "I'll only tell you if you promise not to kill us." The whole guild nodded, their faces wary. All were thinking what could the pair have possibly done to anger the blonde mage this much.

 **Flash back**

Natsu and Gajeel were fighting as usual. However, when Lucy left the guild to go home, Natsu decided stop fighting and follow her, wanting free food. However, Gajeel wasn't happy with this. He was getting close to beating Natsu and want the pleasure that came from beating the flame brain.

So he also followed Lucy, keeping tabs on Natsu. Natsu, sensing that Gajeel was behind him shot a flaming attack, causing Lucy to realise something was wrong. Pulling her keys off her belt, she was about to summon Loke when a familiar dragons flaming roar hurtled towards her, knocking her off balance.

Lucy, seeing she was on the edge of the river flung herself forward. But an attack from Gajeel, intended to hit Natsu knocked her hand and her keys went flying, into the river. With this, Lucy stormed towards the two, and they ran off.

 **End of flashback**

Erza raised her swords, anger building. "You did what?" she asked, her voice menacing. Natsu hid behind Gajeel, almost falling over in fright. "It was an accident." He said, knowing this wouldn't make up for what they'd done. After all, Lucy's keys were her life.

Levy stepped in and Gajeel gave her a thankful smile, expecting her to calm down the crazed redhead. But no, Levy smacked them both in the face and ran out of the guild, calling over her should that she was going to look for Lucy.

The guild, understanding the blunettes words turned on the dragonslayers again, eyes glinting with evil.

 **Levy's POV**

As I ran towards Lu-chans apartment, I thought over what had happened in my mind. How could this have happened. After al, Lucy was so careful with her keys. She must be devastated right now. They were her best friends.

As I approached, I found what I feared to be true. Lucy's lights were out and all in all the house looked very empty. Too empty. Using the spair key I had been given by Lu-chan, I enter, quickly scanning the space for any sign of Lucy. Seeing none, I wondered in further, looking for clues about her whereabouts. Seeing that her letters to her mum were gone, some of her clothes missing and the food gone from her kitchen, I knew immediately what had happened.

As I was about to exit, I saw something moving gently in the wind coming in from the open door. Walkinf over to her writing desk, I noticed a letter, addressed to Fairy Tail.

It read…

 _Dear Fairy Tail_

As you've probably heard by now, my keys are gone. Due to my lack of care, many of my greatest of friends have been lost. I have decided I am not fit to own any keys as I can't take care of them. I hear by quit Fairy Tail and using celestial keys. I am sorry for leaving so abruptly but I needed to get out of this place. I may or may not ever see you again but just know, I love all of you and you are still my family.

Love,

 _Lucy Heartfillia_

'Oh no' Levy thought, leaving the apartment and setting off for Fairy Tail, where she expected to find a whole lot of angry people and two very bashed up dragon slayers.

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 **IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!  
You choose the pairing for this story. Vote on the poll which is on my page right now! Only open until CHAPTER TEN is posted!**


	2. Chapter 2

**IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!  
You choose the pairing for this story. Vote on the poll which is on my profile page right now! Only open until CHAPTER TEN is posted. **

**Sorry for any problems with the poll for the last couple of days! It has been fixed now!**

Hi everyone. Due to the amazing response I have received for the first chapter of this story, I have decided to post the second chapter already! Trust me, I won't usually be this quick!

As for **kurahieiritr JIO'** s review, those two will not be forgiven soon I expect! But one of the other dragonslayers... (NO SPOILERS!)

I hope you all like this chapter!

 **Lucy's POV**

As I ran out of Mangolia, tears streaming down my face, what had happened started to sink in. My precious keys, my precious friends, gone. How would I ever survive? Thinking this over, I realised I wouldn't ever be able to wield a key again unless I knew I had my own keys and friends with me. So this left me with a choice. What to do?

I could think of only to options. Return to my father's old property and see if someone I knew there could help me or travel around a bit and try and work out what to do now. It's kind of obvious what I would choose.

After all, as much as I love the people back at fathers, I have too many bad memories. So, once I had decided what to do, I only had to choose where to go. And also mask my scent.

 **No ones POV  
**  
Lucy, going into a small village which had a train station and some shops bought new shampoo and conditioner, in an apple scent. She then brought new clothes, somewhat less revealing ones. After all, without her keys, she was pretty defenceless against any men who might want to have her. Then she grabbed some strong apple perfume and spayed all over her new clothes and herself.

Once all thins was finished, she high-tailed it to the train station, leaving on the next train and not really caring where it took her too. In some twist of luck however, she realised the train was taking her towards Sabertooth, Fairy Tail's old rivals. Getting off when they arrived, she wandered the town, avoiding the guild like the plague.

Sometimes, you just don't want to have to deal with people.

Looking up at the sky, Lucy realised it was becoming dark. Thinking carefully about her options, she noticed how her money was becoming fast depleted and opted to stay in a cave she found out in the woods. Once there was a fire and some of the food she had taken was in her stomach, the tears came.

Throughout the whole day, Lucy had been holding them back but now she lost that will. What good would staying strong do after all? She had lost the best friends she could ever hope for. Falling asleep, she didn't notice the silver key, glinting beside her hand.

 **At fairy tail…  
**  
The guild was going crazy after hearing Levy read out the letter. Everyone was depressed, no one was going out on missions and everyone was a mess. The only two people seeming not depressed were Natsu and Gajeel who were still unconscious from the beating they received thanks to Mira, Erza and surprisingly, Laxus. These three, all S class mages, came somewhat close to killing the two before Master stepped in, stopping them.

Now usually, if Laxus came out of his shell like this to so something in girl's defence, Mira would have gone demon matchmaker of him. However, she only gave the lightning dragon slayer a weird look before going back to clean the already clean glasses.

The depression looked like it was going to hang over the guild for months, or until they found their angel. And that could prove hard to do.

Natsu and Gajeel awoke in a dark room, tied to a thick pillar with magic restraining rope. "Damn" Gajeel growled. "We sure did it this time." Natsu, turning to face the iron dragon slayer nodded. "I don't get it either." He said, frowning. Gajeel sniggered and Natsu sent him a glare, understanding the unspoken words. "I get why Mira and Erza attacked us but why Laxux. He's usually so composed and doesn't involve himself with other people." Gajeel nodded, getting Natsu's point but not understand why either. He shrugged. "How long do you reckon we'll be here for?" he asked. Natsu, listening for any activity above realised it was night and glared at Gajeel. "God only know."

 **Back with Lucy…  
**  
Lucy awoke with a start. The first thing she notices was that it was still pitch black outside. The next was the silvery light shining beside where she lay. Looking down, she realised there was a sliver key lying on the ground. Out of habit, she picked it up. And suddenly, the world around began to shine. Her head was spinning and she felt at the same time like she was going to puke nad burst from the magical energy being produced by whatever was happening.

Closing her eyes, she felt her feet land on solid ground once more, much to her relief! Taking a breath, she noted the familiar smell of strawberries and a scent that seemed so familiar yet also so weird.

Slowly opening her eyes, she gasped, peering around. What she saw made tears come to her eyes once more and she rushed forward, embracing the people in front of her with joy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey Everyone! Once again, I must thank everyone who is reading this story for** **inspiring** **me so much! Special thanks goes to the four users who have reviewed this story! I love reading through your comments and adding your ideas into later chapters!**

 **Thanks and enjoy!**

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Together, Lucy and her spirits walked through the spirit realm. Lucy, having gotten over her crying, began to tell her tale of losing their keys. But before she became too upset with having to recount the tale, they interrupted her, telling her how they already knew what had happened.

At this Lucy looked to Loke and Aquarius, who were standing side by side. They were probably the two spirits she was closest too and it pained to know she would most likely never get to see them again after this impromptu visit to the celestial plane.

Wait. She was in the spirit world! "What's going on?" she asked, confused as to why she had been brought here. Loke, quickly glancing at the circle of spirits surrounding Lucy, nodded and most of them left, leaving only himself, Plue, Aquarius and Virgo with Lucy. "I can't tell you everything right now but know that bad things have happened here and only you can help."

Loke sped up, almost jogging towards a huge castle which Lucy understood was the Spirit King's house. She increased her speed to match his, feeling energy surround her. Being surrounded by so much of her own magic did this. While providing endless amounts of energy and strength, it also increased her magic levels greatly, seeing as it was constantly used and refilled, as was the nature of being a mage here.

Arriving at the massive doorstep leading into the palace, Lucy took a deep breath and pushed open the doors. Normally, she would've knocked and waited to be let in formally. However, from Loke's behaviour, she realised something must be seriously wrong.

Sensing the huge amount of magic produced by the king, Lucy ran through the palace, using her senses to locate where the King sat, in an amazing throne room. His throne, the biggest, was placed facing towards the door, with twelve smaller but still impressive chairs placed evenly surrounding it. "The throne room." Lucy whispered, awed by the sight. The floor of the room was what appeared to be glass, revealing a swirling mist beneath.

The King turned, and his face broke into an enormous smile. "Old Friend." He said, his voice booming across the room. "I apologise for dragging you here, especially after the recent event." At this his smile became smaller. "However, we needed you here. Or at least we needed the most powerful celestial mage on the earth plane. And that's you."

Lucy gasped, amazed at how powerful he made her sound. Bowing, she shook her head. "I'm sorry moustache man but I'm not that powerful. Whatever you need me for sounds like the kind of thing you need a really powerful mage for. Not me." However, the King shook his head, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

"Old Friend. Old Friend. Why must you doubt yourself so much? I haven't even told you what we require you for and you've already decided that you're not good enough." Lucy, thinking about his words, blushed, seeing the truth behind the praise.

"Anyway, we have an imbalance in the celestial world that could directly affect your world. I don't know if anyone would have told you but I used to have a sister." Sighing, the King settled into his throne, ready to tell Lucy one of the many secrets of the celestial plane.

 **Flashback**

 _There were two kids. Twins. So similar but so different. Never named. Always referred to as King and Queen._

 _"King, Queen, your mother requires you in the throne room immediately." One of Virgo's ancestors said, bowing low to the two. As they nodded, she ushered them out the door of their play room and towards the said throne room._

 _A gorgeous woman waited for the pair within the room which would become King's base of operations. Looking down at her children, she smiled but also sighed. It was time to initiate the children into their rightful positions as leaders of light and dark._

 _Already knowing which job would fall to which twin, she offered the two a variety of items, three items signified leading the light and three the dark. King's eyes immediately went towards the golden crown of sorts. And, as she predicted, Queen grabbed a bracelet, the cold metal radiating dark magic._

 _Opening the balcony door behind her, their mother motioned for the two to go out and greet the spirits which had gathered bellow, placing the crown on King's head and the bracelet on Queen's upper arm._

 _The crowd cheered, seeing their leaders. As King stepped forward, he saw Queen basking in the glory and immediately had a dislike for her, one that had never been there before._

 **End of Flashback**

"And after that moment, we never really got along. After all, good and evil never do. However, we kept the sync between the two forces and that meant that we were doing a good job. However, something is terribly wrong here and my sister, Queen, has been murdered but by whom and why we are unable to know."

Lucy, smiling, noticed the looks she was getting from the remaining spirits and realised what was going on. "I'll do it." She said, not bothering to wait for the King to finish. Probably not the best thing to do and if it were any other mage, the king would have been furious. However, Lucy was special to all who knew her and even he had been caught up in her gorgeous personality.

He smiled down at her and handed her a bracelet. It was gorgeous, with gold and black metallic metal seemingly woven together and a blood red ruby in the centre. Lucy could feel the power radiating out of it. The king, seeing she was about to put it on placed a hand over hers, stopping her.

"I must make you aware of what you are doing." He boomed, shaking his head sadly. "If this were not an extreme emergency, I would not even consider doing this to you. Once you take you place as the Queen of evil, your power will expand hugely. You will have dark celestial magic though. As Queen of Evil, you and I work together to keep the balance. Neither worlds would function with only one of us. Make sure to keep the balance, not too much evil but not too much good either."

Lucy, taking a deep breath went to put on the bracelet. However, Loke, yelling, told her to stop. "Luce, I know you need something to distract you from the sorrow, but some of the evil you will be ruling is likely to stay in your body for some time afterwards. You will need much help to get through that period. And, without us…." His voice trailed off, and she looked around her tears in her eyes.

"I am so sorry." She said, and fastened the bracelet onto her wrist.

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 **Also, vote on the pairing for this story! There will be some definite romance later on and the poll will be closing at a certain point in the story! So hurry and vote now!**

 **Review please! It makes me smile :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**This is an interesting chapter. Also, I want to know how many people actually read these. If you read this authors note, comment telling me what you think of the JellalxLucy action! I personally love it!**

 **Thanks and enjoy!**

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Almost immediately, the change was apparent. Lucy's eyes changed, from chocolate brown to pitch black. She grew, becoming the size of King. Her hair, usually light blonde and shoulder length began to grow, down to her lower back. But the new hair wasn't blonde. It was an extremely dark purple. Then, a deep purple ball appeared over her head and descended, bathing her in glittering purple light. As this had been happening, she had risen of the floor, around 2 metres to be exact.

 **Link to picture of the bracelet on my profile page!**

Suddenly though, the light subsided and Lucy fell to the floor. Her spirits rushed forward, wanting to see if she was alright. Lucy stood and flicked her hand, brushing her beloved spirits aside with a blast of purple energy.

Loke, seeing this began to cry, knowing the evil had filled their dear Lucy and for then next couple of days, they could do nothing about it. Lucy, nodding towards King left and Loke looked over to see King crying as well. "I, I am so sorry my spirits." He cried. "She will return to herself within a month of taking off the braclent. But the sooner we got if off the better."

At this sentence, the gathered spirits heads shot up and together they rushed out of the palace, determined to find a spirit with the right amount of good and evil to replace Lucy.

 **With Lucy….**

Lucy walked into the Palace of Darkness and took in her new home. It was nice, but not quite right. She couldn't help but feel like something was missing. Going into a huge corridor, she found her throne room and sat, in a chair of black that seemed to radiate evil. Beside her, Ophiuchus stood, and she realised, alike to the golden keys for the king, he served the leader of darkness.

He hissed to her, warning her that her first visitor had arrived. Thinking back to before she had been transformed, the one thing she clearly remembered had been Kings words. Keep the balance.

Gesturing for the person to be let in, she began ruling. For every person that arrived, she assessed the results of their evil action and the reaction from the good. Occasionally, she allowed something truly evil to happen, but somehow she knew people would pick up the pieces and move on.

Then, in came a spirit which she sensed was incredibly evil. She still wasn't completely sure how the spirits influenced the humans to do the awful deeds she was allowing but knew they must have a way.

The spirit knelt at the base of her throne and spoke, his voice scratchy and deep. "Queen of shadows, I am here to inquire about a deed to be done by a new dark guild. They have become incredibly powerful as of lately by acquiring some golden keys."

At this Lucy, gasped. Then, puzzled, she wondered why. Why did her body react the way it did to that statement. Something was wrong. There were things she couldn't remember. Things were fuzzy.

The spirit before her coughed, getting her attention once more. "As I was saying, they have decided to plan a huge attack on the guild of Fairy Tail."

Once again, she felt like she should be worried or upset by this information. Shaking her head, she focused on the job at hand. Whether to allow or deny this request. Using her bracelet, she created a screen in front of her and researched this guild. 'Fairy Tail' she thought. It looked oddly familiar. But it seemed to be a guild filled with good energy. "Do it." She said. Some evil will balance out their energy, she thought. Yet she still felt she had done something terrible.

The spirit, smiling, got up and was about to leave when Lucy stopped him. How far into the future are they planning this?" She asked. The spirit rasped, almost glowing in evil. "Five celestial days. A year and three months on the human plane." He said and left.

 **At Fairy Tail….**

Jellal walked into the guild hall, cloak on and face hidden. Immediately, he sensed the change from the last time he had been here. With his name finally clear, he had been hoping to spend some happy times with the guild but is was apparent something bad had happened. Something very bad. Walking over to Erza, his closest friend in the guild, he examined the guild and realised a very important girl to the guild was missing. Lucy. The light of the guild. "Where is she?" he yelled, his voice echoing around the empty guild. Feeling every guild member's eyes on him, he turned back to Erza and grabbed her shoulders. "Where is Lucy?"

Erza, looking depressed, looked up at her long-time friends and crush and saw despair in his eyes. She had admired the man before her for so long, she wasn't sure what she would do without him. But now, closely analyzing the past encounters he had had with Lucy, she realised something that would change her world.

She realised Jellal had never been hers. Lucy and that smile of hers caught everyone, even the darkest souls. And Lucy deserved him.

Smiling slightly now, she answered him. "She has left for now. But she'll come back." And that was the moment when Erza realised what she had said, though only intended to comfort Jella was very true. 'She will always come back.'

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 **The JellalxLucy action makes me so happy right now! I hope it makes you happy too! Also, remember to review and follow!**

 **:)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks you for reading this story! I hope you are enjoying the plot so far! Please vote on the poll! A little more romance is in this chapter so I hope you enjoy that!**

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Lucy tossed and turned in her sleep that night. Something was seriously wrong. For in her dreams, she saw the guild she had allowed to be attacked. Why, she would wonder later had she not remembered. But the magic of the bracelet and evil in general was blocking the images from her head.

But try as she might, she could not work out what was wrong. After all, she was keeping the balance, doing as she was supposed to.

The next two days were a blur, as she tried to continue her work without feeling guilty for what she had done. Then, on the night of her third day of ruling, she found something. Hidden away in a dark corner of the palace was a picture of King and Queen, together before they had been transformed.

She could see, even at their young age who would take each position. While King seemed to be surrounded by gold and white, Queen obviously preferred deep purple and black. This got her thinking. Really, good and evil weren't that different. Only the outer appearance was separate. The two siblings, though in some ways looking different were incredibly alike.

Suddenly, with this realisation, the memories began to come back. Slowly at first, then huge waves. "Shoot" she thought as she began to think over what she had allowed to happen. Doing the maths (1 day in celestial=3 months on earth plane) she noted that she had to get home within the next day to warn her guild. But how. The worlds would both die off if the balance wasn't maintained.

But who could take the role over from her. The only spirits she had seen in her time here were far too evil, with too little god within them. Swearing to herself she would find someone, she drifted off into a restless sleep, interrupted constantly by nightmares. During her sleep, she released huge bursts of magic, fighting enemy's in her dreams.

 **At Fairy Tail…**

It had been nine months since Lucy had disappeared. The two dragon slayers had been let out, and had both attempted to track her down, but her trail disappeared in a small village. The guild continued on, some people managing a somewhat normal routine. But others, they were still broken, on the inside an out.

One such mage was surprisingly Freed, one of the members of the Thunder God Team. This surprised some, but not Mira. She had seen the looks Freed snuck of Lucy when he thought no one was looking. She knew how much he secretly admired her.

Seeing Freed, once more sitting alone with his head resting on the table, she approached him, slipping into the seat beside him. Hearing someone, he lifted his head, giving Mira a tired smile. She had been talking to him for a while before Lucy left and had become one of his close friends, one of the few he had.

Mira looked back at him and shook her head. He had really let himself go. Nowdays, he drunk almost every day and barely took any missions. How could loosing one person do this to someone. But she knew Lucy wasn't just some person to Freed. He truly loved her.

Sighing again, she leant over and hugged him. This seemed to be the last straw for Freed. His usual wall around his emotions broke and he began to cry, burying his face into Mira's hair, not wanting to be seen.

Mira, noticing people starting to look, let out a quick burst of magic, warning everyone to back off. Those who had been looking quickly turned away, not wishing to have demon-Mira attack them later.

As Freed cried, she rubbed his back, comforting him. "It'll be okay you know." She said to him, whispering. "She'll come back. She always does."

Freed looked up at her, his eyes red and puffy and smiled for the first time since she left. "She will wont she. She'll always return home."

 **The King's Chamber, The Celestial World….**

Loke walked into the chamber, where he saw the other eleven zodiacs already waiting. Quickly making his way towards his throne, he looked around the room and saw only worry and defeat on the spirits faces. He himself didn't feel any better than they, but he decided to at least try and stay strong.

The king stood and circle the room, being greeted with the same sight Loke had observed. "So, I take it no one has managed to find one who is balanced enough?" He asked. Seeing twelve shaking heads, he sighed. "What can we do?" He asked. "This event will play out as it will. We can't change the future, no matter how hard we try."

Loke stood suddenly, sensing a magical disturbance coming from his master. Looking outside, he could just make out large purple flashed coming from over the horizon. Glancing at the king, he saw worry on his face and bolted out the door, followed by Lucy's other golden key spirits. Whatever was causing her to release this amount of magic couldn't be good.

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 **Please review this story. I really need some feedback on whether people are liking it or not! I'm having a bit of writer's block at the moment sorry :(**

 **Anyway, follow and review! 3**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Please review and vote on the poll to choose the coupling!**

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The spirits, arriving at the Palace of Darkness, found rubble. So much rubble. Knowing their princess was inside there somewhere, Virgo dug a large hole, creating a huge tunnel and using her magic to sense where Lucy lay. Coming up onto the surface, she was greeted with the sight of Lucy, her eyes closed and skimpy nightrobe on. Tears streaming out her eyes, she screamed, a gut wrenching sound that caught the spirits off guard. What could be causing her to make such a sound?

Then, they noticed the people lying on the ground around her bed. Loke was the first to connect the dots. "She's still asleep and is fighting enemies in her dreams." He said, voice dark. "However, someone wants the new Queen of Darkness dead. So in some ways, the nightmares saved her. But judging by that scream, they also destroy her."

The spirits surrounding him nodded and began to gather up the badly injured spirits. But as Loke, made his way towards Lucy, he saw something that made him freeze, horror written clearly on his face.

Aquarius, the first to notice Loke's behaviour glanced over to where his gaze was directed and dropped the spirits she was gathering. Together, the two of them walked towards the figure lying on the ground. How could this happen. After all, only the King could allow someone like this into the celestial plane.

Sharing a look, the two spirits covered up the body of this person and Aquarius enveloped it in water, sending it to King's palace. Then Loke went over to Lucy once more and this time succeeded in awakening her.

Lucy woke with a start, surprise and fright in her eyes. Then, seeing it was just her spirits, she smiled. But there was a sadness to her smile. Once again, she felt as though there were things she simply couldn't remember. Shaking off the feeling for now, she looked around and saw the amount of bodies being moved from her room.

"What's going on, Loke?" she inquired, still slightly sleepy. Loke, helping her to her feet and filled her in on what they thought must have been going on while she was sleeping.

Suddenly though, a hand appeared from behind the bed and grabbed Lucy. Before Loke could do anything though, some magic limiting handcuffs were snapped onto her hands and she disappeared.

Loke screamed in frustration. Why do bad things always happen to the good people? Ophiuchus, awoken by the clattering and magical bursts entered the room. Seeing the twelve but no Lucy, he immediately gathered something was wrong.

"They've taken her haven't they?" He said, already knowing the answer to the question. Loke nodded. Then his brain seemed to catch up with what Ophiuchus had just said. "Wait, who have taken her?"

Ophiuchus shook his head. "Isn't it obvious?" He said, wondering how Loke didn't already realise what had happened. "Lucy got someone requesting permission to attack Fairy Tail a couple of days ago. This was before she recovered some of her memory. She accepted it." At this Loke gasped.

"Then, the spirit told her the new guild had recently acquired some new golden keys…" All twelve of the golden spirits surrounding Ophiuchus swore. "I'm betting that they didn't want a previous owner of these keys running around with dark celestial magic. So it was simpler to kidnap her and kill her off. Of course while, she is still wearing the bracelet, she can't be killed. But they will realise this soon. Also, King can track down the bracelet if that helps you."

Loke was already out the door, thanking Ophiuchus as he ran towards the Castle of Light. All the other golden spirits ran after him. Well, all but one. Capricorn stayed behind, thinking about what Ophiuchus had just done. He could definitely be evil, but the act of kindness he had just committed showed he had balance.

Balance. It was needed for anything to function. It was needed in the new leader of evil.

 **At Fairy Tail….**

Laxus came back through the guild doors and went straight to the request board, intent on picking out another long S-class request. He had already accepted and completed three supposedly month long S-class missions this week and the board, while usually completely full was becoming empty. Laxux's bank account however, was quickly filling up.

But it wasn't like he was doing this for the money. No, just the brief distraction it offered, along with the chance to bash up a few monsters. He wasn't even taking his usual team with him. Freed had completely broken down, as he expected him to do. After all, Mira wasn't the only one who was observant in this guild.

The other two were okay but completely occupied with trying to help Freed's depressing mood. So Laxus went alone. It seemed many of the guild members were realising just how much they truly loved the celestial mage. It had after all been ten months since she disappeared and everyone was fearing the worst at this point.

Laxus reached the board and went to grab a random request when his grandfather stopped him. "Laxus, my office." He said, before hopping off the stool he had used to be tall enough to stop Laxus getting the request and walked towards his office.

Sighing, Laxus followed him, expecting to get a whole stop being so stupid talk. But instead, his gramps began to beam. "You and Lucy huh?" He asked, looking expectantly at Laxus, who began choking on air.

Once he had recovered enough to talk, Laxus shook his head vigorously. "What the heck Gramps?" He yelled. "When have Lucy and I even so much as talked to each other properly?" Master, shrugging, laughed in his face. It was somewhat of a new experience for Laxus. After all, a man of his height and with his reputation didn't get laughed at often.

"Then why on earth have you reacted like this to her disappearance then? You weren't even this disconnected when Ever, a member of your own group went missing for two years when you guys were young. Tell me then, Laxus, what's going on?"

Laxus began spluttering, trying to think of another reason for his admittedly odd behaviour. Master smirked, seeing Laxus stop fighting the inevitable and accept the fact that he did like Lucy.

Master let out an incredibly high pitched squeal and grinned at Laxus. "Thank the gods this finally happened. I was getting worried about those grandkids you promised me." Laxus looked at him indignantly. "I've never promised you any grandkids." He said.

Master pulled out a lacrima screen and showed him a short video of himself when he was four years old. Laxus facepalmed as Master once again smirked, knowing he had won the battle!

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 **Please tell me if you find any errors in my work! I was a bit rushed today so I haven't edited it too well! Please review! Thanks for reading and tell me if you liked the romance coming into the story so far! It gets better!**


	7. Chapter 7

Hi everyone! Sorry about the update gap. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

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 **Wherever** **Lucy is….**

Lucy screamed as the men holding her began to lift her into a cell, equipped with special spells meaning no magic could be used inside them. Glaring at the two, she tried to attack, but couldn't. No magic put her at a huge disadvantage. "Giving up Your Majesty?" One of the men sneered, obviously teasing Lucy.

Gathering her composure, Lucy gave him a regal look and using her aristocrat voice, began to speak. "Where am I? Why am I here? Who are you?" Her voice echoed around the almost empty room. Shrugging, the other man stepped up to the side of the cell she had been put in and grinned, a sleazy and all together creepy smile. "Wouldn't you love to know baby." Lucy shuddered at his tone.

With this, the two men left, which Lucy was very glad about. She had been so close to reaching out through those bars and kicking him so hard…

Her thoughts were interrupted however, when a woman entered the room. Sighing, Lucy turned to face her. "Yes?" She said, getting annoyed with all the interruptions. After all, they were already holding her prisoner. The least this group could do was provide some private time for her.

Then realising the woman had been talked, Lucy interrupted her and asked her to begin again. The lady, after shooting Lucy an annoyed glare began again. "Basically, you have power. We don't like others having more power than us. So, we have decided it is better for everyone to kill you off. Hope you're not offended or anything. It's simply necessary."

Lucy, nodding, gestured for the woman to leave. But this lady stayed where she was, instead motioning at the door. Inside came those two creepy men. They carefully entered her cage and snapped on those dreaded handcuffs once more before leading her outside into what seemed to be a courtyard.

Peering up at the sky, Lucy saw the lights and planets seen only from the celestial plane and breathed a sigh of relief. She was still in the spirit world. That meant that the king could find her.

However, she knew that if she was killed right here and right now, she would not only never see her friends again but also hand over one of the most powerful magical items in existence, the bracelet.

The men roughly shoved Lucy to her knees, where she was very vulnerable to attack. The woman produced two large, sharp looking knifes and handed them to the men, smiling at what she thought was about to happen.

But, though the blades sliced through her skin easily, it seemed that they were being stopped from doing and significant harm. Watching, the woman grew enraged. These two blundering idiots couldn't even kill someone properly. Yelling at them to get back, she reequipped a huge battle axe and swung it at Lucy, putting all her force behind the blow.

She too, found the same block. Something magical was happening, something too powerful to be suppressed by the handcuffs. Now, the lady examined those handcuffs, checking for any weakness. As she did this however, she noticed the rather prominent piece of jewellery Lucy was sporting and felt the power coming out of it.

'Of course' she though, immediately connecting the dots. Taking the bracelet, she began unclasping it. But Lucy, who had sat quietly this whole time, biding her time snatched back her hand. "Later." She gloated and violently pulled her hands apart from each other, tearing the handcuffs apart.

Grabbing the battle axe the lady had dropped when she examined her bracelet, she attacked. Unluckily for this lady, there wasn't any magic blocking the axe and stopping it kill her.

The body dropped to the floor and Lucy advanced on the two sleazy men. She considered sparing them. Then the fatal mistake happened. The pervy one decided to have one more look over her body before dying, thus sealing his fate.

Lucys face turned from neutral to incredibly angry. The cheek of this man, assuming this was okay behaviour. Dropping the axe, she advanced bare handed on the two. At this point, these two imbeciles would have been feeling more confident. But the look in this queen's eyes was murderous.

Standing before the two, she gathered a smaller part of the magic within her and brought it out of her body, channelling it out of her arms and into the air in front of her, forming a deep purple, glowing ball of light.

Splitting it into two, she shot these at the men and walked away, down the hall of the building, hearing the screams of the two men fade into the distance as she got further away. Interestingly, there didn't seem to be many other people in this building.

As she had this thought, all twelve of the golden keys spirits burst through a wall, taking out the largest number of people Lucy had encountered in the last twenty minutes of wandering she had done. Running towards them, she jumped over their heads and flipped dozens of times as she sailed towards the ground.

It seemed she had somehow made her way up into a five story building without going up any stairs. Hearing the protests of the spirits she had just abandoned, she ignored them and ran towards King's palace. She needed to know the date.

Fairy Tail couldn't have much time left.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the very late upload. School went back and the homework's been rolling in :(**

 **Anyway, thanks to everyone who's reviewed, followed, favourited and voted on my poll! I am really loving where this story is going! Please give me some feedback.**

 **Which pairing do you like? Which romance piece is your favourite? What's going to happen to Lucy? 0-0  
**

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Reaching the palace of lightness, Lucy burst through the door and found the King, as usual sitting in his throne. The sight that was unusual was that Ophiuchus was sitting beside the king. Usually these two men didn't get along. After all, one served evil and the other ruled over good.

However, when they both looked at her, Lucy began to get excited. "I approve," she said, nodding her head majestically. The two men smiled at each other, another odd sight. But not an unwanted one. Lucy felt perhaps these two could actually work together to achieve perfect balance, something that everyone wanted.

Ophiuchus knelt before Lucy, and she unclasped the gorgeous piece of jewellery. However, it didn't feel right to give Ophiuchus such a feminine piece. Looking up at the king, she saw he had already anticipated this and was holding a tray out to her. Taking it, she offered the items on the tay to Ophiuchus. He looked over them, his eyes being drawn immediately to a crown much alike to King's.

The differences were in the colour scheme. Where King's was gold, Ophiuchus's was black. Lucy instantly felt tired. She no longer had those incredibly huge powers to feed her energy. But she felt strong, hugely so. She had also shrunk back to her normal size and lost most of the muscle tone she had gained.

But here were the differences she could definitely sense. She was physically stronger. Not as strong as she had been but much stronger than before. She also felt like she still had some evil inside her, a side effect the king had warned her about at the start.

But the main difference was just how much her magical power had risen. She felt as if she could easily open all the golden spirits she owned and hold them out for days perhaps. It felt amazing.|

Then she remembered the things she had done while Queen of Darkness. Falling to her knees, she broke down, sobs wracking her body. Fairy Tail would now be attacked by this new guild, perhaps connected to the people who had attacked her.

It clicked in that instant. They had her keys. Her beloved friends. Now lying on the ground, crying he heart out, Lucy didn't even here her spirits enter the room. The first thing that made her aware of their presence was their embraces. "We love you Lucy, no matter what." They said, making her cry even harder.

After a while, Lucy got the tears under control. However, she would have to live with the guilt of allowing so many bad things to happen for years to come.

The king, feeling Lucy was a bit better now called her over and led her into a private room. It was filled with celestial weapons, all different types. As she gazed around, she saw a beautiful bow, which she went over and stroked, feeling the slight magical energy it was giving off.

Seeing her pleading gaze, the king gave in and handed her the bow. After all, she had saved the two worlds by stepping up to take on the role. But a weapon was not the reason he had brought her in here.

"Lucy" he boomed. "As you can feel, your magic levels are so high that you easily common every spirit in the celestial world at once. However, because of this same fact, the silver keys now are unusable to you." With this sentence, Lucy nearly broke down again. Even if she did get her keys back, some wouldn't be able to be summoned by her.

"Do not despair old friend. You have now unlocked the highest form of celestial magic, generally only available to the rulers of the celestial planes. You now unlock the next five spells, which work the same as Urano Meltria but on a much grander level. However, please don't go using these in simple bar fights in Fairy Tail. They will main or sometimes kill."

Lucy nodded and King walked up to her and placed his hands over her head. In a flash of golden light, words appeared in Lucy's brain, along with a basic understanding of each spell. Thinking through them, she gasped at the array of new ways to fight she had now been granted. "Thank you so much." She said.

Now she had a way to fight for her keys.

 **At Fairy Tail…**

Natsu stood up, his eyes widening. A second later Laxus could be seen to be pulling Freed down the stairs and rushing outside the guild, Natsu quickly following.

Everyone looked around, puzzled. Then Wendy told them what was going on. With a huge cheer the rest of the guild ran outside, Jellal leading the pack. Before them was Lucy, the light of fairy tail. But she was different. Her eyes, usually chocolate in colour were almost black.

Also, the more powerful mages could sense how much stronger Lucy was. As she ran towards them, she shot Natsu and Gajeel two seriously scary glares before smiling at the rest of the guild and hugging every single member.

Natsu and Gajeel sweatdropped, both nervous. "I'm guessing she hasn't forgiven us then." Natsu murmured, worry etched on his face. Gajeel shuddered. "I'd say not."


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's another chapter! Enjoy... :D**

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Lucy, once she had greeted everyone stormed up to Masters office, slamming the door behind her and making the floor vibrate. Everyone looked at each other, confused by the sudden mood swing. Something must be wrong. Erza looked towards the two offended dragonslayers, who were muttering to each other about forgiveness.

Walking over to them, she reequipped a small dagger and pointed it at them. "Did you do something else to Lucy?" she asked. Well, actually, she yelled. The two, fearing death, violently shook their heads. Too violently apparently, as they both went green and almost flew towards the bathrooms.

 **In Master's office….**

Lucy finished her story about her short reign in the celestial world, tears streaming down her face. Once again, she was ridden with overwhelming guild about what she had condemned the guild to. Master however, was not surprised or particularly upset.

"Lucy, how many times have people tried to destroy our guild?" At this, Lucy looked up. "Too many to count. And how many times have they succeeded?" he questioned. With this, he saw a glimmer of hope in Lucy's black eyes and she answered, her voice not quite as miserable. "No one has every destroyed Fairy Tail." She said, proudly.

"Correct. However, I would prefer if you had a bit of extra training before the attack. How long did you say it was away?"

Lucy shrugged. "Two or so weeks I think." Master nodded and thought about his grandson, him being one of the strongest mages in the guild. Nodding to himself, he walked over to the door, leaving Lucy confused. 'What's he doing?' she thought.

"Laxus. My office. Now," Master yelled, grinning as he saw his grandson cover his eyes, glaring at him and muttering obscenities at his grandpa. Seeing Laxus making his way to the office, Master went back in and saw a defiant looking Lucy, still sitting in the same place she had been as before.

"Now Lucy, I expect you and Laxus to work together to complete this training." Seeing Laxus enter in his peripheral vision, he continued. "The aim of this training is purely on you becoming stronger as once the dark guild att-" He got no further.

Laxus fell of the chair he had just lowered himself into, causing Lucy to giggle. Blushing, he picked himself up and looked to see his gramps holding a camera. 'Shoot' he thought. 'Hello new blackmail material.'

"As I was saying, due to the fact that the black guild will be after you, I feel its best if you get trained. And, as Laxus is one of the strongest guild members, I believe he will be the perfect choice for the person who trains you."

Lucy, listening to his reasoning, nodded and smiled at the large man, a warm and comforting smile that made him blush once more. Turning back to Master in an attempt to hide his semi-red face, he managed to splutter out "Which guild and why Lucy."

Master decided to be nice to the lightning dragonslayer and instead of teasing, he began to fill him in. As he reached the end of the tale, electricity was crackling around the room, causing Lucy to look at Laxus.

Immediately, she saw he was angry. Very angry. Deciding he would probably do something stupid if he didn't calm him down, she walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. Whispering in his ear, she told him not to be angry, but to instead focus his energy on her training.

Hearing the now familiar snap of the lacrima camera, the pair looked over at Master, who was smiling and holding up a copy of the picture. Laxus, not wanting to deal with this sent a lone lightning bolt to burn the picture. Luckily, or unluckily for the pair, Gramps pulled out a huge stack of the pictures from bellow his desk.

Shaking her head, Lucy faced back towards Laxus and grinned. "I'm not even going to ask how he got that many copies that quickly. And with this, she and Laxus left the office, both smiling.

 **At the dark guild….**

"Madam, we have some bad news," a small, quivering man said. Seeing his shaking hands, she scoffed, not caring about the fact that a person stood before her. All she saw was a pawn in her elaborate chess game.

"Yes." She said, her tone bored. After all, what could've gone too badly wrong? Thinking over her master plan, she felt like she had missed a crucial detail. Suddenly anxious, she ushered for the man to continue.

"Well, the two brothers and their wife were reported missing after going to the celestial world five months ago (time flow differences) to take down the new queen. Then, we got a report in ten minutes ago when one of the spirits checked the celestial plane hideout. They are all dead and it seems the mage posing as queen escaped."

Sensing there was more, the lady growled at the weak human in front of her and he continued. "However, she is not longer ruling. In fact, none of the spirits we have under our control can find her. We assume she has left the celestial world and entered the Earth plane."

With this, the woman laughed. "You puny beings assume nothing. Only I assume." And with that, she shot a ball of energy at him, stopping his heart. 'Come at me then, Lucy. Let's see how well you fight against your friends.'

Calling in another servant, she told them to summon Alexis. "Tell her she gets some new keys."


	10. Chapter 10

Lucy and Laxus walked towards the exit of the guild. Lucy saw Mira and Freed talking, her comforting him about something. Walking over, she overheard her name. "Hey Mira, Freed. Are you alright?" she asked, even though it was clear the rune mage wasn't. "I'm okay I guess." Freed replied, putting on a very fake smile.

Lucy saw right through the mask and went up to him. Grasping his hand, she looked into his eyes and saw pain and guilt. 'Somewhat like my own eyes,' she thought. "What's wrong Freed. Was it something to do with me? Did I do anything?"

Freed slowly shook his head, but then began to nod, finding it impossible to lie to his beloved. "I feel terrible that no one was there to support you through your awful adventure." He told her. Saying it out loud, it seemed every stupider to Freed. But to Lucy, who had suffered from the lack of friendship, even though it had only been four days for her, it was very sweet of Freed to feel guilty over something he couldn't control. Then, thinking over the previous thought, she realised she needed to move on from allowing an attack and become strong enough to beat the dark guild.

Looking at Freed, she realised that helping her get stronger would be the perfect way for him to move on as well.

Looking behind her back, she saw Laxus, still waiting expectantly at the door. Waving him over, she explained her plans. Laxus, slightly jealous wanted to object. However, the kind nature of Lucy seemed to be rubbing off on him. Instead of shaking his head, he nodded. Lucy ran forward and gave him another hug, which made him incredibly happy. However, she then turned to Freed and also gave him a hug.

Freed and Laxus's eyes met, each taking in the others blushing face. Each seeing that the other had also fallen for the blonde. Coming to a silent agreement, the two decided that they would both train the girl and would let whoever she chose have her with no argument.

Lucy, beaming, towed the two boys out of the building and into the woods. Walking ahead, she heard them discussing what to do first. Arriving at a lovely spot by a waterfall, she stopped at the riverbank. The two boys behind her were engrossed in their conversation however and didn't see that she'd stopped.

This resulted in Lucy losing her balance and toppling into the river. However, luckily for her someone else had decided this was an amazing place and had decided to take a swim. Looking down at her saviour, Lucy gave one of her most beautiful smiles.

After being lowered back onto solid ground, she shot the two mages who had pushed her a dirty look and turned once more to face the man who had caught her.

"How can I thank you Jellal." She said. "I couldn't just let a woman fall into a river. That would have been incredibly rude of me." He replied, shyly looking up at Lucy from under his blue bangs. This was new for him actually. He wasn't usually shy.

Just when he was about to add to his statement, the lightning dragonslayer and rune mage coughed, making their presence clear to Jellal. "Oh, hello Laxus. Freed."

Nodding at Lucy, he began to walk away from them, throwing on his shirt as he went and shaking his wet hair out. Lucy realised what he was doing and yelled out to him, causing him to stop in his tracks. "Why don't you join us?" she said. Jellal slowly turned around at these words.

"What are you doing?" He asked, hoping there was some way he could help this kind girl. "Well, we were planning to train me right here actually. You could be a big help. After all, I'm going to need all the help I can get!"

Jellal began to smile. Here was an opportunity to get closer to Lucy. Then he looked over to her companions and received two glares. "I'm sorry Lucy. I'd love to help but I don't want to intrude."

If she was already seeing one of these men, he didn't want to get in the way. That would be rude and rude was exactly what he was trying to avoid, epically after his criminal past.

She shook her head and laughed. "It wouldn't be any trouble, would it guys?" she said. Laxus and Freed realised she was about to turn around and erased the glares that had occupied their faces, putting on small smiles. Lucy's smile was contagious.

"Then it's decided," she said, happy to have another trainer, especially one so powerful. Smiling at the three, she went over to the clearing beside the waterfall and stood in the middle. "What do you want to do first?" she asked them.

The three huddled together and began to murmur, talking about what they were going to do. Lucy was impressed how Laxus and Freed welcomed Jellal into their talk. After all, while those two worked together every day, no one really ever worked with Jellal.

Coming out of the huddle, Laxus spoke. "Okay Lucy. We've decided to start with three tests. The first will just be too see how you can use your power in combat. The next two will be your physical and magical strength." Seeing her nod, Jellal took over.

"Laxus will be your opponent for the first test. Freed will help with measuring your magical strength and I'll be testing your physical prowess and how well you use your weapons. From there, I believe Freed will brief us all each night with tactics for the next day of training and he'll work with you on the actual spells, helping with things such as silent incarnations."

Seeing her nod, he continued. "Laxus will be taking care of your physical state. You'll most likely work with him in the mornings. Then I'll teach you for most of the afternoon, helping with magic in battle and those celestial weapons of yours."

"Also," Freed added, "We'll need some more information on your actual magic. I've heard you've gained some new magic."

Lucy took all of this in then composed herself. Even she wasn't sure exactly how far she could push her new form of magic.

"Well, I now have the power to create a physical version of celestial magic. Instead of needing to channel it through an item, the veins of magic within my body now allow it to be channelled through my hands. However, I've been practising a little and I can't seem to control how much energy is produced within those ball and exactly where they go."

The three trainers nodded and Freed took notes. "Okay, let's get this started!" Laxus said, grinning. 

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**This chapter makes me so happy! I literally fangirled the whole way through! Hope you enjoy!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everyone! I know there's no excuse for the long time between updates. I haven't been home much and i have everything saved on my laptop :D**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

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Lucy took her stance before Laxus, holding her hands out before her. When Jellal signalled the fight had started, she dodged around behind a tree, narrowly avoiding the lighting she knew had been aimed at her.

Gathering her magic, she fed it out through her hand until it was hovering in front of her. Reaching out, she gave it a push and aimed it at Laxus. However, the ball went off course, crashing into a tree right beside where Freed was perched, taking more notes for the three of them to look over later.

Laxus appeared behind her and instinctively she, she shot a ball directly from her hand, hitting the blonde in the chest and throwing him back against a tree. "Oh my god! Laxus, are you okay?" She asked, running over to where he had fallen.

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to do.." She was cut off as Laxus began to laugh. Getting to his feet, he brushed of the dirt which had gotten on his coat and smiled at Lucy. "That was really cool! I'm guessing you didn't really mean to do it though. Instinct perhaps?"

Lucy nodded. "Let's continue then" Laxus said. "Try and control it this time." Then he disappeared once more. Lucy looked around, scanning the trees surrounding her. Seeing a small flash of blonde swishing through the braches, she fired a ball. It felt a tiny bit more controlled this time but still it wobbled mid-air and went completely off target.

Deciding to try another technique, Lucy grabbed her bow, which she had holstered on her back. Quickly climbing one of the trees, she dodged the lightning that came about her, surprised by her own speed. 'Must be that boost of agility I got from my short reign.' She thought.

Finding she was in a good position, she decided to use one of the spells the king had taught her. Waiting until Laxus had shot another bolt of lightning, she whispered, "Reflect against those what they do against my will."

Laxus picked up her words but had no time to question Lucy on them as a portal opened and the lightning bolt he had just sent at her went inside. "Nice shield Lucy." He said, impressed. However, a second later, his own lightning bolt shot out of a different portal, this one appearing in front of his face.

After being flown through the air for the second time that afternoon, Laxus figured Freed had gathered enough information from this fight. 'Time to go full out.' He thought.

"Lightning dragon roar!" The roar came barrelling towards Lucy. She only just got out of the way of the attack when another one came. After one or two minutes of Lucy dodging his attacks, Laxus came close quarters.

Lucy grabbed her whip and twirled it expertly. Expecting a direct attack, Laxus thought she'd missed when the whip flew off to the left of him. Then a tree branch fell, missing most of Laxus but grazing his cheek. Seeing his glare. Lucy realised she should probably use another energy ball or risk being electrified.

But as she was forming the required magic, Laxus attacked, causing her to lose concentration. The ball, instead of looking hard and sharp was a blurry blob which shot straight past Laxus. Laxus laughed and grabbed Lucy's touching where her heart was with a dagger he had pulled from his boot.

However, what neither mage saw coming was that soft looking ball of energy, which had rebounded off a tree and struck Laxus in the back, not hurting him but knocking him off balance. Reacting quickly, he chucked the blade away as he fell, taking Lucy down with him.

The two shook their heads, recovering from the fall, then noticing the position that they found themselves in. Awkward didn't even cover it.

Their legs were intertwined and Laxus was above Lucy, is somewhat of a plank position. Lucy, blushing bright red, wiggled out from underneath him, jumping to her feet before offering her hand to help the large man up.

Freed and Jellal exchanged looks, jealousy written all over their faces. Lucy and Laxus walked over to the pair and looked expectantly at Freed, who was holding a wad of paper. He shuffled though the notes, occasionally placing a page aside.

Once he had gathered the information he needed, he began to speak. "Okay. From that fight, I have noticed a few things about your new weapons and skills. First and most obvious is the energy ball thing."

He blushed as Lucy giggled at his description. "You definitely will need to work on that. The next is how you dodged for so long before using your weapon and even when you did use it, it was only for a brief amount of the fight. You need to remember that they are there. Lastly, your other big mistake was your compassion. Sorry Lucy but you can't rush over to every enemy your defeat and check if they're okay."

Lucy accepted these criticisms. After all, that's what she was here to do. Work on her skills. Then she remembered they would be here for around two more weeks, or until Gramps called them on the Lacrima.

"Hey Jellal, could you please start setting up our camp with Laxus while Freed and I talk about my magic? Please?" Lucy said, giving her best pleading expression. Jellal smiled, a small smile but a smile none the less. "Of course Lucy." He said, setting off towards a nice spot near the clearing but far enough away that fights wouldn't be heard. Laxus followed him, grabbing their bags.

"Okay," said Lucy, getting down to business. "You've seen some of my magic. What so you think?"

Freed though about her question analysing the data he had recorded from the fight. "I think your magic is very versatile. I'm guessing you have a couple of spells like that one that branch of the Urano Meltria." Lucy nodded, impressed. "Also, the energy balls have great potential, but you definitely need more work with them." Again, she nodded, agreeing with that statement.

"Now, there are a couple of ways to test how much magic you can have when you are full. The first is with runes. This is the simplest. The other is to go to the magic council and get a permit for a magic test. The only problem with that is if your magic is too high, they will force you to wear limiters."

Lucy immediately replied. After all, the answer was pretty simple. "I'll have the runes." She said, smiling. Freed nodded, and took out his sword. Motioning for her to hold out her hand, she did so and his eye glowed purple.

He slowly began to write. The language was foreign to Lucy but as the words were completed, she got a sense of what was being written. Basically, her magic level would be displayed above her head. As there was not measurement for magic energy, it would be displayed as a number, with 0 being no magic ability and 100 being the most powerful mage to ever live.

As Freed carved the last rune into her arm, she felt slightly light headed and saw a glow of purple from above her head. Hearing Freed gasp, she looked up. There, glowing above her head was the number 99.


	12. Chapter 12

**I'd like to dedicate this chapter to kurahieiritr JIO. Thank you for the reviews! Your comments made my day! It makes me so happy to make others happy :D**

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 **With Laxus and Jellal….**

Laxus heard the sound of the two exclaiming over her magic level. 'I wish I was there.' He thought and unknowingly sent a wistful look in Lucy's direction. Jellal noticed this expression and chuckled quietly to himself. Of course Laxus liked her as well. The lightning mage never just helped people. Then again, neither did he.

Setting down the small amount of gear he had brought, he glanced behind at Laxus once more and for the first time noticed how mush gear he was carrying. Three people to be exact. Rushing over, Jellal took half of the load off Laxus, taking it over to where he'd dumped his own possessions.

Carefully placing Lucy's tent and Freed's bag down, he quickly looked over the area he had chosen. It was near the river, but cloaser to the waterfall than the training ground. There was a small clearing, with flowers ringing the edges.

Seeing that Laxus had begun to set up his own tent, he also started, pegging out his tent and gathering rocks to build a nice fire pit to sit in the middle of the ring of tents. By the time he'd found appropriate rocks, Laxus had set up the other two tents and gathered some logs to use as seat.

Arranging the stones, the two men pooled their cooking supplies. Surprisingly, the two of them both enjoyed to cook, and began to discuss recipes as they made dinner. Each was astonished that himself and the other man were getting along this well. They even went so far as to call each other friends.

Not aloud of course though. Oh no, they had far too much pride for that!

 **With Lucy and Freed…**

Lucy explained in more detail the spells she had been given access too but also told Freed of her terrible mistake. A rumour had been going around the guild that afternoon about someone's betrayal but the last person Freed expected this to be was Lucy.

She began to sob quietly as she continued her tale. She relived the moment constantly. Freed, not sure how to comfort her, leaned towards her and she snuggled into his embrace feeling comforted by it.

Smiling up at him, she thought about the three new friends she was slowly making. Already, she felt closer to these three than she than she had ever felt to Natsu, Erza and Gray. Though they were her friends, they never helped train her.

Thinking about it now, though they took her on missions, they never really helped her, except in fights during missions. And even then, they just took over instead of letting her get stronger. But Freed, Laxus and Jellal, they were different. She instinctively knew that they wouldn't do that to her on a mission.

Standing up, she wiped her eyes and held out her hand, helping Freed up. "The others should've finished setting up by now." She said, grabbing his hand and walking towards where the boys had disappeared to.

Arriving in the smaller clearing, Lucy grinned at the amazing smell coming from the cooking pot. Letting go of Freed and leaving him by the camps edge, she walked over to Jellal. Seeing he hadn't noticed their arrival, she whispered under her breath, knowing Laxus would hear it but Jellal wouldn't. "Don't say anything."

Going up behind the blunette, she grabbed his shoulders and yelled, "Erza's coming for you!"

Jellal fell of the log, landing in an undignified heap. Picking himself up off the ground, he grunted at Lucy, pretending to be mad. Lucy's face fell, until Laxus began laughing at her, quickly joined by Freed and Jellal.

Now it was Lucy's turn to be mad. However, with these three laughing, she found it was impossible. Their laughter was infectious and soon she too was laughing with them. Suddenly, a slight burning smell come from one of the pots and Jellal and Laxus shot over to the pots once more, taking them off the heat and adding various ingredients.

Sitting down on one of the logs, Lucy beckoned Freed over. Once he too had settled himself into a comfortable position, she giggled quietly. "They're like mothers, intently looking over their food!" Freed glanced over to the two and laughed as well.

Laxus sniffed. "I heard that." He said. Lucy giggled once more. "Doesn't matter. It's still true."

Laxus rolled his eyes and turned back to the food, conferring with Jellal about how much chilli they should add. Lucy turned back to Freed and the two talked, discussing tactics, but also just random things like what was going on in the guild.

Just when they were getting hungry, Jellal called to them, telling them it was dinner time. Lucy and Freed ran over to collect their plates of food, expecting great things from the two wannabe chefs. Taking the first mouthful, Lucy spat it out immediately, coughing and spluttering.

"She's choking!" Freed yelled, looking around for some water. See a singular drink bottle, he grabbed it and handed it to Lucy. She drunk heaps of the water, stopping coughing. "Thanks Freed." She said, smiling at the green haired man.

As she turned away, she thought there might have been a slight blush on his cheeks. However, she decided it must have just been the fire light.

After a delicious dinner was finished, (Yes, Laxus and Jellal are good cooks. Lucy did just choke!) everyone sat around the fire, chatting. This was Lucy's first night after whole year where she had been in the celestial plane. Sighing, she decided it was probably time to head to bed.

Rising, she went towards her sleeping bag, smiling as she heard the boys wishing her a good night's sleep. Yelling over her shoulder, she thanked each of them for helping her and wished them a good night also.

Then she entered her tent which was small, but not too small. Changing quickly into some warmer clothes, she sat on her inflatable mattress and thought about everything that had happened in that one day she had been back. Already, she had three new, close friends and had started her training.

Hearing the boys outside begin to pack up and head to their own sleeping quarters, she drifted off to sleep, exhausted by the days happenings.


	13. Chapter 13

Lucy was rudely awoken by someone banging on her tent. "Natsu, leave me alone." She yelled. Then she opened her eyes and realised she wasn't at home and she definitely hoped it wasn't Natsu making that noise. Also, when did he use knock/bang anyway? "Lucy, get your butt out here in training clothes now."

'Ah' Lucy thought. 'It's Laxus.' Quickly changing into some shorts and a tank, Lucy emerged from her tent to find the sun hadn't risen yet. She groaned, but got a shock when two simultaneous groans came from Freed and Jellal's tents.

"Laxus, dude. What the heck?" Jellal yelled coming flopping out from his tent, his hair messy and his shirt only half on. Lucy got a quick glance of his toned chest and blushed slightly, a fact Jellal didn't miss.

Then the zipper was pulled down from Freed's tent and out emerged a perfectly groomed Freed. Seeing Laxus' slightly dishevelled hair and clothes, then Jellal's blatant messiness, he smiled. "You all look great!" He said, teasing them.

Lucy pouted, pretending to be hurt. "Am I included in that statement?" she asked, giving her best sad yet teasing look. Freed looked away and answered, still looking the other way. "Nope, you look fine Lucy."

Grinning and poking her tongue out at the other two, Lucy bounced over to Laxus. Jellal on the other hand stalked towards him, trying to deal with his messy hair as they went. Laxus grinned at the three before beckoning to the breakfast sitting behind him.

"Pancakes!" Lucy exclaimed, her face breaking into yet another grin. "Thanks sparky!" Laxus nodded, then realised what he had just been called, swiping his hand, he attempted to take back the pancakes. Getting them into his hands, he smiled down at her. But Lucy quickly muttered a spell so quietly even Laxus couldn't hear it.

Then pancakes were eaten up by a portal, which then opened by Lucy. She reached inside and pulled out the pancakes, which now had maple syrup and bacon on them. Muttering a quick thanks to her spirits, she closed the portal.

Freed had pulled a notepad from god knows where and was writing notes. He coughed and everyone looked to him. "Has anyone else noticed how the two spells we've actually seen both include a portal of some kind? Do all your spells?"

Lucy shrugged. "That's the thing. The words only come to me when a situation has arisen when the spell is useful. After I use it for the first time though, I can remember the incantation."

Freed nodded, looking interested. Laxus waved a hand in front of Freed's face, interrupting him form writing. Receiving an annoyed look from the green haired mage, he smirked and zapped the pen, turning it into a pile of dust.

"Before you started examining Lucy, I was going to tell you that Lucy and Jellal's testing should start immediately after breakfast. I have an important plan for after lunch. Should you be finished by then Jellal?"

Jellal, who had fallen asleep into his pancakes didn't respond. He was jerked awake when a rather large bolt of lightning hit him. He jumped, somehow managing to bang his hand onto the end of his fork, which was loaded with pancake. The fork did a majestic arc, then landed on Laxus's face.

Lucy giggled, then found herself with a pancake covered face and top. Seeing Freed was still clean, she grabbed a whole pancake, throwing it at him. Then, almost instantly afterwards, Jellal poured on the maple syrup, having used his magic to speed towards Freed.

Laxus, Lucy and Jellal all grinned. Freed no longer looked so clean and perfect! Deciding that breakfast was probably finished at this point, Lucy took off towards the waterfall, using the new portal spell to snag herself some soap, hair products and towels.

Realising the boys could come to the waterfall at any moment, she contemplated how to stop them seeing anything. However, when she reached the waterfall, along with the stuff she had teleported from her tent was a bikini. The weirdest thing was she didn't recognise it and knew it wasn't one she had previously owned.

Cautiously picking it up, she hid up a tree and hurriedly got changed. She then ran lightly along a branch and dove into the river.

It seemed Jellal had had the same idea about getting rid of the stickiness that covered them. He was also in the river, not ten meters from where she had landed. Smiling at him, she swam to shore and grabbed her shampoo, trying tremendously hard to not look at his chest.

After resisting the urge to look, she faced the waterfall and begun to wash her hair, using shampoo, then conditioner. She was about to use her soap when Jellal surprised her, coming up behind her and asking to borrow her soap. She gasped and slipped back.

In a moment of déjà vu, she found herself being caught by the mage. This time however, she looked into his eyes, becoming lost in them. She couldn't tell how long she lay there, cradled in his toned arms. All she knew was suddenly, the eye contact was broken and she found she missed it. Badly.

"Shall we get changed and begin your testing" Jellal said, his deep voice through Lucy's thoughts and registering in her brain. Managing a nod, she smiled and began to swim towards the bank, briefly diving underwater to refresh herself.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Lucy had quickly gotten changed and now walked to the area Jellal had specified to be their training ground. It amazed her how much had happened yesterday! She arrived at the place and saw Jellal was already there, setting something up. It looked like some kind of person.

Hearing Lucy's footsteps, Jellal turned around facing her. He immediately thought of the moment they had shared back at the water fall but pushed the though from his mind. After all, this was his time to train Lucy and he wasn't going to waste it.

"This is a magical training device." He told her, gesturing to the cut out. "When magic is sent at it, it will activate and begin moving around. This is what we'll be training with most of the time."

Lucy nodded and took her position. Jellal activated his magic, went over and touched dummy. Immediately, it seemed to come to life and began running about, hiding and dodging. Lucy grabbed her bow, which she had with a quiver on her shoulder.

Nocking an arrow, she shot. It would have been a perfect shot had the dummy not rolled out of the way, landing on its feet. Lucy shot again with the same result.

This went on for about an hour until Lucy realised she was wasting time when she had to reach for another arrow. She picked two arrows out, knocking one and holding the other ready. Drawing back the bow, she shot, then incredibly quickly drew and shot again.

It hit the center of the dummy's chest, disabling it. Jellal smiled at her. "Good job. However, that was only the lowest setting. You've got a long way to go!" Nodding, they moved to a log to discuss the next exercise.

 **With Laxus and Freed…  
**  
After the two had left for testing and training, Laxus and Freed weren't quite sure what to do. Looking around the camp, Freed suddenly had an idea. Jumping to his feet, he started running into the forest.

Laxus wasn't alarmed though. His friend did this a lot after all. He'd have an idea then completely abandon everything else while he pursued it. However, he did become curious when a tree some one hundred meters away fell over. Jogging towards the location of the crash, he found Freed standing beside a large tree trunk.

"What the.." He said, his voice trailing off. Freed grinned and got Laxus to help him lift the log. Heading back towards the camp, he explained his idea. "Seeing as we don't have anything to do currently, I thought we'd build a simple cabin for us to sleep in. It'd be much more comfortable and it wouldn't take us long at all."

Laxus smiled at Freed, agreeing with his idea. They made their way back to the clearing, carrying the large log with relative ease. Sitting it down, Freed began to cut it up, fashioning planks as Laxus walked away to get more logs.

The two of the continued working like this for the rest of the day, only taking a break to have lunch. Their work payed off too, as at the end of the day, there was a large yet simple log cabin in the space their tents had occupied.

Moving everyone's belongings inside, Freed noticed a noise coming from his own bag. Frowning, he opened it to be greeted with Mira's face, looking up at him. Startled, he dropped the bag, causing a large, resounding 'thunk'

Laxus, hearing the noise came into the cabin. By this point, Freed had taken the lacrima screen out of his bag and answered Mira's call. "Oh, hey Mira." He said.

Mira smiled at him, then turned her attention back to Freed. "So, how's it going?"

Freed blushed slightly. "Nothing much has happened. Except maybe with Lucy's magic. It increased incredibly!"

Mira smiled. "And how are things going with your attempts to cour" Mira's face cut off the screen as Freed hit the end call button. Lucy and Jellal had just walked through the door, marvelling at the cabin.

"Wow" Lucy said, looking around. There were three rooms, one for Lucy, one for the three boys and a main area. "Thanks you two!"

Laxus grinned, then decided Freed really wasn't taking enough credit for the idea. "That okay Luce, it wasn't hard. You should really be thanking Freed. He was the one to think up the idea."

Lucy turned to Freed, walking over and giving him a big hug. "Thanks Freed." She whispered into his ear. "This means a lot to me!"

Freed, stunned by the blonde's hug, became a statue. He froze up, not moving at all. Lucy pulled back, concerned. But even that didn't snap him out of his moment. Laxus shrugged and suggested they all have an early night. Everyone nodded and went off into their rooms, leaving Freed standing there, still completely still!

Lucy changed into her pyjamas and hopped into her sleeping bag, turning off her lacrima crystal powered light. However, try as she might, she could not get too sleep. Eventually, she gave up and sat up, slipping out of her bag and tip-toeing out of her room and into the common area.

Looking around, she noted that Freed must have regained consciousness at some point as he had disappeared. Opening the makeshift door, she began making her way towards the waterfall. Reaching her destination, she sat on a rock, shifting around a couple of times to get comfortable. There, watching the water flow down and over the rocks, she thought about all that had happened in the last couple of days. She had lost her keys, gone to the spirit world, gained amazing powers, lost the ability to summon her silver keys, allowed an attack on Fairy Tail, been kidnapped, come back to the normal plane and begun training with three amazing guys. Such a lot has happened.

As she thought through this, she began to feel slightly drowsy. Slipping down, she fell asleep.


End file.
